THOSE WHO GUIDE THE GAME NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Championship Heidi VanDerveer is in her first season as head coach at UC San Diego. Impressive footsteps UC San Diego head coach Heidi VanDerveer has a clear path to follow By Ian Clark eidi VanDerveer has been following in the footsteps of her older sister Tara for years. Now, finishing her first year as head coach of the women’s basketball team at the University of HCalifornia San Diego, she continues to follow Tara while still blazing her own trail. Heidi VanDerveer is the youngest of five children, raised in Chautauqua, N.Y., just south of Buffalo and not too far from Lake Erie. Tara is the oldest of the five VanDerveer kids, 10 years Heidi’s elder. Tara VanDerveer has been the head coach of women’s basketball at Stanford University for 27 years, where she has won two NCAA championships and was a 2011 inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. “Tara is the single biggest influence in my life,” said Heidi VanDerveer. “We talk almost every day. We watch film together, and any time I have a chance to go up there and spend time with her I do that. “Both my parents were educators. I think it’s a natural thing for people in my family to do. That’s what coaching is. Coaching is teaching. It’s a natural gene in our family.” 8 NCAA.com THOSE WHO GUIDE THE GAME NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Championship s o t o h P A A C N / . r J n w o r B r o v e r T 2 1 0 2 © Tara VanDerveer in in her 27th year at Stanford, and has won two national titles. Growing up, the VanDerveer kids participated in to the head position at Ohio State, where she Knight practice. I could go to Ohio State where she anything and everything when it came to sports, coached until 1985. During those years at both was and work with her, or go to Texas with coach from hockey to football to baseball to skiing. And of institutions, Tara made sure Heidi was around to Jody Conrad or go to Tennessee where Pat Summitt course, basketball was in there as well, and it wasn’t help out as often as possible even as Heidi was in the was. I wrote all of them a letter and it ended up that long before Heidi was working alongside the first in middle of her playing career at the College of Pat had a spot as a graduate assistant, so I did that.” a line of legendary coaches. Charleston. Summitt was, of course, the head coach of the “(Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame member) “She was working and basically running my women’s basketball program at the University of Cathy Rush was the head coach at Immaculata camps when she was in college, and I was head Tennessee from 1974 to 2012, finishing her career University (in Pennsylvania) and she ran basketball coach at Idaho and Ohio State and Stanford,” Tara with the most wins in NCAA history for either camps out of Valley Forge and the Poconos. Tara said. “She’s been around basketball and studied it men’s or women’s basketball, with 1,098. Summit would go work as a counselor and I would go as a and has an incredible background.” guided the Lady Vols to eight NCAA champi - junior counselor,” Heidi said. “We’d spend every It was during her college days working with Tara onships before becoming head coach emeritus. summer working camps with Debbie Ryan (who that Heidi realized she wanted to work in basketball “Tara has been the most influential person in my went on to coach Virginia) and Muffet McGraw and not law. That led her to work with yet another life, but at such a young age working for Pat, I (long-time University of Notre Dame coach). Tara coaching luminary. learned a lot about basketball and the qualities that would drag me along, I think my dad made her.” “I went to college and my parents hoped I would you need for duration and longevity,” Heidi said. Those camps were where Heidi VanDerveer first be a lawyer. I think they hoped Tara and I would “Being consistent in your personality — being fair discovered her love for the teaching aspect of the both be lawyers, actually. Tara got into coaching to people. Pat has a tremendous work ethic. There sport. and I would spend time, whether with her at Idaho are no shortcuts.” “We were immersed in basketball,” she said. or Ohio State, I would spend all the time with her Up next for Heidi was an assistant coaching posi - “Camp is the foundation of basketball, and spend - there that I could,” Heidi said. “I remember being a tion at the University of South Carolina from 1988 ing so much time around people who had a passion pre-law undergrad in college and realizing I didn’t to 1994. Heidi took her first head coaching position for it was really the best way to get into coaching.” want to do that. I wanted to coach, and Tara told at Eastern Washington University from 1994-97. Tara would go on to take her first head coaching me I could go to one of four places. I could go to Her next stop was in the professional ranks as an gig at Idaho State from 1978-80 and then moved on Indiana and watch (men’s head coach) Bobby assistant with the Sacramento Monarchs of the 10 NCAA.com WNBA. That position meant she was close to Tara when you take over a new team.” once again. The bond between the sisters remains as tight as “When I was with the WNBA, I was living at ever. Stanford. For about 12 years all I did was watch “I’m the oldest and she’s the youngest, and we’re Tara practice every day and work out of their very close. We would be anyway, but when you throw office,” Heidi said. “That was the best, to watch in basketball too, we both live the same type of life them and talk basketball with her every day, sit in with recruiting and coaching and experience the same their meetings, watch film with them. I traveled highs and lows. That just makes us even closer,” Tara with Stanford quite a bit. It gives you a different said. “I learn a lot from her, and we share a lot of perspective on things.” philosophies and strategies. We work really well That was a special time for Tara as well. together. We just have a great relationship.” “She lived down the street so as many as six The bond also means that Heidi can accept Tara’s nights out of seven we had dinner together, she advice with no worries. came to practices, she helped with video stuff if I “When you know somebody loves you, they can needed help with. We talked about games, players, tell you things and you don’t get defensive because strategy, watched men’s games, pro games. It was you know no matter what, they’re just trying to help very basketball intensive,” Tara said. “You’ve heard you. Good or bad. You take it at face value because of the 10,000 hours (philosophy, where you must you know all they want is for you to be successful,” put in 10,000 hours to be good at something), well Heidi said. “They have no agenda except to help we definitely put in the 10,000 hours together you become the best and have the best team you working at developing as coaches. It was never can. So everything Tara says, I listen to and apply to work. It was all fun. We loved looking at games and In addition to guidance from her sister, Heidi the best of my ability because I know that the expe - talking about what play a team ran or asking ‘did VanDerveer served as an assistant coach rience she has and the insight and knowledge...just you see that at the end of the game?’ “ under Tennessee coach Pat Summitt. look at what she’s accomplished. I’d be an idiot not Heidi would go on to bounce around in the to listen.” WNBA, holding head coaching roles in Sacramento “You want to not just maintain. Programs are not Heidi said that perhaps one of the most valuable and Minnesota and assistant and scout positions just a one-hit wonder. You look at Connecticut or lessons Tara taught her was also one of the simplest: with the Seattle Storm. There were brief stops at the Stanford or Tennessee, those are teams that can sus - just be yourself. University of San Francisco and San Diego State as tain. You look at last year’s run for UC San Diego “One of the best things she ever told me, in the well as stints with Team USA. She would then take and it was very special,” VanDerveer said. “Our WNBA we were in the middle of the season and I the head coach job at Occidental College in Los challenge coming in was to work hard to do the best was an assistant with Sacramento and taking over as Angeles. that we can with the people that we have this year. head coach and she told me, ‘be your personality. When the UC San Diego job came open in the We’re doing that.